Darth Wrinkles. The Abominable Snowman. A midget green alien space ninja. The biggest plot twist in cinematic history. Of all the films in the Star Wars legacy, The Empire Strikes Back had the biggest task at hand. Having introduced the concepts of the jedi and The Force in the first film, it now had to open the universe up to a much larger, more expansive world, with some pretty fantastical elements, and still leave us saying that was pretty cool. Amazingly, it’s often touted not only as a good film in the series, but some arguing that it’s the best of the series.

Hard as it is to believe, science fiction is cool now. Whether we’re talking about Star Wars, Doctor Who, or the Alien franchise, I’m reminded of something I heard a fantasy author say earlier this year: “We (nerds) won the culture war.” That’s opened up a new horizon for science fiction filmmakers, where it’s much easier to get a big budget and do your imaginative sci-fi film justice. It’s paved the way for new filmmakers like Neill Blomkamp, who want to explore, through science fiction, what qualifies beings as human, and what counts as intelligent life.

Sometimes it’s hard, living in America, to truly appreciate what religious persecution is. We see some forms of it, with political events that sometimes challenge our religious freedom, or in some forms of discrimination in the workplace, but in general, we don’t really know what it’s like. We don’t know what it’s like to be threatened with execution because we believe something different from our religious leaders. We can’t grasp the scenario wherein we face excommunication for sharing the Bible with the common man. Martin Luther did, and even more impressive, he marched on anyway, literally changing the world. That’s what makes his story so compelling, and this film so inspiring.